Christmas in July 2019 - Day Seven

[PamelaG]

Moving into Week Two - Advent. How about we start with Advent celebrations/traditions for Kids that involve food? In our house that would be the open the door-type of Advent calendars that have little chocolates behind each door. Do you buy them? Do you have a favorite brand? The military commissaries always have a large German foods section during the holidays and I buy mine there, the Windel brand which you can also get on Amazon.com. When I like to have a little splurge, I'll order one from one of the online British food stores because Cadbury's chocolate is so good!

 

[Holiday_Mom]

We have used the chocolate Advent Calendars from Christmas Tree Shop or Trader Joe's in the past. Because of nut allergies, we have also used Hershey Chocolate Kisses as a substitute for my one daughter. We have a felt Advent calendar that has little pockets that fit Hershey Kisses.

 

[PamelaG]

I had two cloth Advent calendars with pockets that my Mum bought for Sophia. I think we alternated them - snowman one year, Santa the next. They were great for little candies.

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

We have always had the chocolate advent calendars here. I still buy 3 every year one for DH, DS and DD. Will have to buy one for BF this year.
The brand we choose is Kinnerton, they are good value and the chocolate in them is reasonable. The designs are usually something like Barbie, Transformers etc, all geared to kids but my kids don't mind what they get.
DS eats his chocolate every morning DH and DD wait til evening.

One year DD opened her window and the space was empty and in her little voice said "gone". Opened the next window and it too was empty, started opening all the windows to find that every space was empty. DS has opened every window of hers and ate the chocolate as well as his own. She was so sad.....
Something we laugh about now but we were ticked off with DS at the time.

 

[GrammaDeb]

For years I've bought those cheap advent calendars with chocolates at the grocery store. Now I buy 4 - one each for dgs, dgd, dh, and ME! I've wanted to make something cute & special but I never get around to it.

 

[AuntJamelle]

We don't like DS to have too much chocolate - he gets very hyper! lol

So I keep candy type treats in our wooden Advent calendar to a minimum.

 

[AuntJamelle]

Now that I review my notes I do have some other ideas to share:

- Small clear bag of red, green, silver wrapped kisses with a cute tag that says "Mrs. Claus's Kisses"
- Small clear bag of red M&M's with cute tag that says "Rudolph Noses"
- Container of orange tick tacks with cute label taped on that says "Snowman Noses"
- Small clear bag of green M&M's that says "Grinch Pills" with a poem

“Feeling kind of grouchy? Holiday spirit can’t be found? Just try these little “Grinch Pills” They’re the best medicine around! Whether eating by the handful, or munching one by two...These tasty little “pills” Take the grinch right out of you!”

DS loved these last year!

There are TONS of ideas along these lines that can make candy gifts a bit more fun!

 

[Myron's Mom]

We never did advent calendars. I’m sure my son would have enjoyed it though. I would have too. I’ll have to check them out this year and see if there is something we might enjoy.
Frosty, it sounds like you had some Santa/ St Nicholas magic going on there! Thank you for sharing that story.

 

[Lana]

The last 3 or 4 years I have gotten Teigan one. Barbie one last year. I also do the gift a day one. I try to buy items at $1 or under and wrap it and number them in a sack and she opens 1 every morning. Our kids went to a Christmas thing were that was done so I always did it for them even when they got out of high school. Quit all theirs when Teigan came along!

 

[MinnieCo]

I remember one I made for my daughter on a year that things were really, really tight. I found various info, coloring sheets, and activity sheets about Christmas in different countries. I made her a homemade activity book and she loved it. If I remember right it was more of a 12 days countdown than a full monthly advent, but it's more of a reminder and statement that an advent can be done for cheap. It doesn't have to be extravagant.

 

[Miss JoDee]

I remember one I made for my daughter on a year that things were really, really tight. I found various info, coloring sheets, and activity sheets about Christmas in different countries. I made her a homemade activity book and she loved it. If I remember right it was more of a 12 days countdown than a full monthly advent, but it's more of a reminder and statement that an advent can be done for cheap. It doesn't have to be extravagant.

Oh I could do this for granddaughters.

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

I remember one I made for my daughter on a year that things were really, really tight. I found various info, coloring sheets, and activity sheets about Christmas in different countries. I made her a homemade activity book and she loved it. If I remember right it was more of a 12 days countdown than a full monthly advent, but it's more of a reminder and statement that an advent can be done for cheap. It doesn't have to be extravagant.

It is great when we can do a whole lot of little magical things for the kids that won't break the bank. I like the coloring book idea.

 

[PamelaG]

I used to use a lot of worksheets and coloring pages from a site called Enchanted Learning for preschool fun and even into our later homeschool years. I can't remember if you have to be a member or not but I don't think there was a membership fee.